On this particular day, which had started like most, I didn’t drift back to sleep like Frankie had. I laid there spooned to her back lazily dragging my fingertips around her milk lubricated, nipples. I was thinking about Frankie. The tragedy of Anna’s death and the flight to the lake back home to escape and the ten years as basically a recluse until Priya and Divi and then Donna and all that pain, had led me to this glorious moment with Frankie. She had been there all along and I had wasted a lot of time but if that’s what it took then I was at peace with it. I whispered, “I love you Frankie. Every day.” I saw a smile form on her lips as she emitted a “mmmmmmm.” Then she whispered, “If you keep doing that. You’d better be prepared to pay the consequences.” She rolled over and put her lips on mine. I gladly paid the consequences.
